Jeremy Corbyn threatens to take over empty luxury flats and hand 8,000 homes to rough sleepers

The Labour leader said he would buy homes from housing associations and hand them over to the homeless

By Hugo Gye

28th January 2018, 12:42 pm

Updated: 28th January 2018, 3:51 pm

JEREMY CORBYN today vowed to buy up houses for homeless people to live in while taking over luxury flats that have been left empty.

The Labour boss raised new fears of a land grab with his plan to force landlords to hand over their properties to local councils if they don't live there or rent them out.

PA:Press Association

Labour promised to buy thousands of homes to solve homelessness

Labour claim they can end the epidemic of rough sleeping by snapping up 8,000 unoccupied homes.

The properties would come from housing associations, which would be forced to give them to homeless people with a history of rough sleeping.

Labour would then fund replacement homes and hand them over to the housing associations.

The party didn't say how much the programme would cost, claiming it would be covered by a plan to ramp up investment using borrowed funds.

BBC

Jeremy Corbyn announced a new policy on the Andrew Marr Show

Mr Corbyn told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that he would "immediately purchase 8,000 properties across the country to give immediate housing to those people that are currently homeless.

"At the same time, we would require local authorities to build far more."

He also added: "We would give local authorities the power to take over deliberately kept-empty properties.

"Because there's something grossly insulting about the idea you'd build some luxury block - you look at the pictures all around us at London - and deliberately keep it empty knowing that with the property price inflation, the investor is going to make 10, 12 per cent a year.

"When you have that in the middle of an area where there is a lot of housing stress, many people rough sleeping, you have luxury, glossy, glistening blocks sold and built off-plan to long-distance overseas investors who may buy and sell it before it is even built."